Wednesday, December 17, 2014: According to a recent report, several power companies have shown interest in setting up solar farms in Tamil Nadu with total power capacity of 2500MW. These firms reached out to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company after fixed tariff for solar power purchase was announced by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission at 7.01 per unit on 12 September.
A senior official at TNEB said, “Many companies have submitted proposals to set up farms in Sivaganga, Ramanthapuram and Virudhunagar districts. Apart from these districts, firms have evinced interest in setting up plants in Trichy, Tirupur, Karur and Madurai districts also.” He expects the proposal to become a reality within 12 to 18 months.
He noted that after the companies identify land, TNEB conducts the field verification to pass approval. After the approval and financial closure, the companies may start on with their work. He said, “Late last month, some companies paid registration fees to start preliminary work to set up plants with a capacity of 1000MW.”
TN doesn’t have many solar power plants; however, the state produces almost 7000MW capacity via wind power plants installed. The first solar PV power plant was commissioned in Sivaganga district of 5MW, during December 2010. After that only small solar projects have been installed.
Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation is also further planning to shore up its infrastructure. A senior official said, “Three sub-stations will be set up in Pudukottai, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram districts to transmit solar power alone. A 400 KV sub-station would be set up at Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district and two 230 KV sub-stations would be set up at Muthuramalingapuram in Virudhunagar district and at Villavidhuthi in Pudukottai district.”
